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Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit.

He said, “Amos, what do you see?”

I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”

Then Yahweh said to me,

“The end has come on my people Israel.
    I will not again pass by them any more.
The songs of the temple will be wailing in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh.
    “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.
Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy,
    and cause the poor of the land to fail,
    Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain?
    And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat,
    making the ephah[a] small, and the shekel[b] large,
    and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
that we may buy the poor for silver,
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob,
    “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Won’t the land tremble for this,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it?
Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River;
    and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh,
    “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
    and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,
    and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies,
    and baldness on every head.
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
    and its end like a bitter day.
11 Behold, the days come,” says the Lord Yahweh,
    “that I will send a famine in the land,
    not a famine of bread,
    nor a thirst for water,
    but of hearing Yahweh’s words.
12 They will wander from sea to sea,
    and from the north even to the east;
    they will run back and forth to seek Yahweh’s word,
    and will not find it.
13 In that day the beautiful virgins
    and the young men will faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’
    and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’
    they will fall, and never rise up again.”

Footnotes

  1. 8:5 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel
  2. 8:5 a normal shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.

Basket of Fruit and Israel’s Captivity

This is what the Lord [a]God showed me, and behold, there was a basket of summer fruit. And He said, “What do you see, Amos?” And (A)I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The (B)end has come for My people Israel. I will not [b](C)spare them any longer. [c]The (D)songs of the palace will turn to (E)wailing on that day,” declares the Lord God. “The (F)corpses will be many; in every place [d]they will throw them out. [e]Hush!”

Hear this, you who [f](G)trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, saying,

“When will the (H)new moon [g]be over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the (I)Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market,
To make the [h]ephah smaller and the [i]shekel bigger,
And to (J)cheat with dishonest scales,
So as to (K)buy the helpless for [j]money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

The Lord has (L)sworn by the (M)pride of Jacob,
“Indeed, I will (N)never forget any of their deeds.
Because of this will the land not (O)quake,
And everyone who lives in it (P)mourn?
Indeed, all of it will (Q)rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed about
And subside like the Nile of Egypt.
And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God,
“That I will make the (R)sun go down at noon,
And (S)make the earth dark in [k]broad daylight.
10 Then I will (T)turn your festivals into mourning,
And all your songs into songs of mourning;
And I will put (U)sackcloth around everyone’s waist,
And [l]baldness on every head.
And I will make it (V)like a time of mourning for an only son,
And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
But rather (W)for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
And from the north even to the east;
They will roam about to (X)seek the word of the Lord,
But they will not find it.
13 On that day the beautiful (Y)virgins
And the young men will (Z)faint from thirst.
14 As for those who swear by the [m](AA)guilt of Samaria,
And say, ‘As your god lives, (AB)Dan,’
And, ‘As the way of (AC)Beersheba lives,’
They will fall and (AD)not rise again.”

Footnotes

  1. Amos 8:1 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
  2. Amos 8:2 Lit pass him by
  3. Amos 8:3 Lit They will howl the palace songs
  4. Amos 8:3 Lit he has thrown
  5. Amos 8:3 An order for sacred silence
  6. Amos 8:4 Or snap at
  7. Amos 8:5 Lit pass by
  8. Amos 8:5 About 1 cubic foot or 0.03 cubic meters
  9. Amos 8:5 About 0.5 oz. or 14 gm
  10. Amos 8:6 Lit silver
  11. Amos 8:9 Lit a day of light
  12. Amos 8:10 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourning
  13. Amos 8:14 Or Ashimah